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Officials hope to prevent more drownings
Father and son drowned in Lanier Saturday
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The beach area at Mountain View Park off Browns Bridge Road is quiet Sunday afternoon after a drowning Saturday that took the lives of a father and his stepson. Hall County Emergency Services crews recovered the bodies at the park Saturday night. - photo by SARA GUEVARA
Few people swam Sunday in the waters off Mountain View Park, the Lake Lanier cove that claimed the lives of a father and son from Lawrenceville the evening before. Jose Alfredo Benitez, 40, drowned in the lake Saturday as he tried to save his 14-year-old stepson, Carlos Amaya.Both of their bodies were found within yards of each other, some 35 feet under the water’s surface, just as dark fell over the lake. It was the first reported drowning in Lake Lanier this year, several weeks before the official start of the summer season in a warmer-than-normal spring.